


Traversing the Piano Keys

by SelenaEstella



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/F, Music, Piano, Scandalous Hand-Brushing, on the meteor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-18
Updated: 2013-07-18
Packaged: 2017-12-20 14:38:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/888428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SelenaEstella/pseuds/SelenaEstella
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: Rose and Kanaya attempt to play the piano. It isn't nearly as easy as John had made it sound.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Traversing the Piano Keys

Your fingers slip and the tune falters yet again. With a sigh you sit back and remove your inept hands from the piano keys. John always made it sound so easy, speaking of it in terms as simple as ‘you hit a key and a sound comes out’, but as it turns out the piano is, indeed, a great deal different from the violin.

Oh well, it’s something to do. Something to work on and get better at during the static days on the meteor… but only if you don’t give up, which isn’t very likely.

The door opens behind you just as you begin to pick out another string of disjointed notes, sheet music sagging in disappointment slightly as you abuse its tune. You don’t turn around, because the soft glow on the walls and gleam on the keys is all you need to identify the visitor by. Besides, it has been engraved into you over many years and many novels that there is something vaguely romantic about being greeted with the back of a lone piano player.

…Or at least, there would be, if the performer hadn’t just managed to strike three wrong notes in a row, creating a cacophony of inelegant  _thunks_  as well as ghastly tones. Are piano keys even supposed to make that noise? Perhaps there’s something wrong with the instrument, and you are actually incredibly talented and, should the world not have been destroyed, would have surpassed John in this realm of music and risen on to become one of the greatest pianists the world has ever seen…

You give up on your humorous fantasy and twist on your stool so that you can face Kanaya as she comes over. She looks slightly curious, and you wonder if music is yet another of those things that did not have much place in Alternian society.

‘I’m not doing very well,’ you admit, as your… girlfriend, now, you suppose… comes to stand beside you. Kanaya blinks, gentle light reflecting nicely off the keys. She keeps it on just for you, and there’s something very touching about that small action that you maybe perhaps only just understand in psychological terms, but not in emotional ones. Not that you mind.

Kanaya leans over, peering at the music. Her arm brushes your own and the skin there tingles pleasently. You want to be close to her, to put your arm around her waist at least, but you don’t think she’s in the mood for physically intimacy right now. You wonder if something’s bothering her, but as she hasn’t said anything and doesn’t appear openly distressed, it isn’t really your place to ask. Keeping track of this ‘red quadrant’ business can be a tad difficult at times.

Besides, you don’t feel like worrying over something at the moment. Everyone has only just become used to the fact that they aren’t actually in any immediate danger – or at least, Karkat has stopped patrolling the corridors at night and ranting about it whenever he possibly can. You were never particularly worried, your  _sight_  never gave you a reason to be, but the atmosphere has become much more mellow and you’d like to enjoy it while it lasts.

Apparently music does have some place in troll culture, because Kanaya hesitantly places her own fingers on the keys as well. They are longer, slimmer and more elegant than your own, and appear more suited to traversing the piano… at least until they slip and she makes just as many mistakes as you did.

A slight flush rises to Kanaya cheeks as the tune falters for the final time and she gives up. ‘I am not particularly skilled at this either,’ she confesses, before turning her head to you and giving a wry smile. She’s wearing lipstick – as she says, black can always be blacker, and a lady with a true sense of style knows this. It adds more definition, and a light gleam, to her smile.

You want to kiss those lips, but this love is young and you’re still not sure who comfortable she is with openly displaying it. It is shown more in how you occasionally little hand-stitched accessories waiting for you about the place, and the way she can always expect a warm, cosy beverage at the end of a long night… day.

Kanaya leafs through the music sheets, probably looking for something more simple. You doubt she’ll find it because you’ve already tried, and failed, but what she eventually chooses takes you by surprise.

Oh. It’s a duet.

You feel slightly funny, but not in a bad way. ‘Touched’ is perhaps the right word, although you don’t give yourself a lot of time to dwell on it. More important things await.

Without a word, you move over on your stool. Kanaya shifts awkwardly as she settles down beside you, and you have to resist the urge to giggle like a schoolgirl, as if the two of you are about to do something  _naughty_  by sitting side-by-side like this. Perhaps an obscene, accidental hand-brush will result from these sordid affairs. Oh, how  _shocking_  that would be!

Both of your reach for the keys, and ultimately it turns out to be more of a hand-mash than a hand-brush. You glance as her, then at the music,  and she glances at you, and at her hands, while half-formed questions stumble from your tongues.

‘I thought it went—’

‘I thought you were at—’

‘My mistake, I was—’

‘Really, I should have—’

You both stop. A moment passes, and then you stop fighting the urge to laugh. Kanaya joins in after a moment and the little tension there was eases completely. A scandalous hand-brush does indeed ensue, and from the way her fingers linger ever so slightly you don’t think it was all that accidental. Maybe you’ve underestimated her. Maybe she’s not quite as timid as you thought, maybe you only  _think_ she is.

Whatever she is, you are both simply awkward teenagers stumbling over the first few stages of romantic relationships and you probably shouldn’t let yourself forget that.

Forgetting proves to be easy, though. Kanaya’s cheek is very close to yours, smooth skin just inches away. There’s a slightly awkward moment in which she notices it too, and notices that you’ve noticed, and then… her lips are even closer.

Soft, slightly cool… a chaste, cautious kiss that lasts less than a second but is perfect in every imaginable way. Leaning back slightly you gaze into her perfect grey eyes, just slightly rimmed with jade, now, and conclude that maybe you wouldn’t mind doing this again, despite the disastrous piano playing.


End file.
